control officers seized 16 animals. the owner teresa lambert runs a beagle operation. the animals were returned with the condition that she would find them new homes. it started out as a night to enjoy a great stretch of weather, but the peace and quiet of a neighborhood was shattered by a disturbing family fight. don harrison explains. >> reporter: what started out as a normal quiet evening in this cape st. clair neighborhood changed. >> the son grabbed the ham are -- hammer, striking his mother. >> reporter: that man is 33-year-old robert benscoter. he swung the hammer and hit his

mother several times in the head and the body. i spoke to a neighbor. he said the woman escaped to their house for help. she was covered in blood. that's when they called 911. when police responds, benscoter was nowhere to be found. he ran into the woods. >> immediately began a search. we used help from our k9 dogs. our aviation unit went. it took about 90 minutes and he was located in a wooded area. >> helicopters, police officers, ambulance, a lot of first aiders, first responders. everything went crazy. the medivac helicopter left and we heard another come. >> reporter: benscoter is charged with attempted second-degree-murder, first and second degree assault and

reckless endangerment. cape st. clair, don harrison. >> polices will recovered the hammer at the scene. a 25-year-old man is charged with assaulting a plaintiff after recount recount police say he -- after anne arundel police say he tried to hit an officer at a traffic job. he was driving a jeep grand cherokee when he was pulled over. the man drove into the officer. he then hit another car. he is charged with first and second assault, reckless endane gyrement. george zimmerman is at the center of that case that left a young plan dead. abc2 news jamie costello joins us with the latest.

>> reporter: there are indications that insensitive language used by george zimmerman show that it was racially motivated. hundreds gathered at this church protesting the killing of 17-year-old trayvon martin. >> if he had been white, he wouldn't have been stopped. >> reporter: there appears to be mounting evidence that supports that theory. they overlooked a racial slur put terred by george zimmerman to a dispatcher right before he shot martin. >> are you following him. >> yeah. >> okay. we don't need you to do that. >> reporter: prosecutors said the federal government is looking into a possible hate crime. it follows an apparent oversight by local police, including not

speaking to tray von's 16-year-old girlfriend who was will be the phone with him just before his death. this is what she told the martin attorney. >> he said what are you doing around here. someone pushed trayvon oar loor local police are drawing more criticism, asking people with information to come forward. >> not too many of those individuals were interviewed. that's a serious fatal flaw in this investigation. >> we're going to watch this march that will be held in new york city. the family says they appreciate the outpouring of spomplet there's a petition ordering george zimmerman and it has 750,000 sig na clurs and that is the -- signatures and that is the fastest growing in internet history. hundreds of police are in position outside the apartment complex where the suspect in the recent french killings lived.

they're waiting for him to turn himself in last promised. three officers were wounded by gunshots trying to arrest mohamed merah. he said he has traveled to afghanistan and pakistan and identifies himself as man al qaeda ally. a live chief said the body of a ms. montana -- missing montana school teacher has been found. the body, authorities believe is hers. it was found in north dakota and had been buried and is being sent to be officially identified. two men pleaded guilty last month to aggravated killing in the case and could face the death penalty. severe storms are rolling through the south causing floodings. tornadoes are causing serious damage and flash flooding. heavy rains are washing away roads. in devine, texas, some roofings

were ripped off. >> a loud -- the winds, just bam, bam. felt like something tore off. >> the storms were also dangerous for drivers who hydroplaned. thousands of flights were canceled. seven states from oklahoma to mississippi are still under flood warnings tonight. here in maryland this was just cloud cover we're dealing with, very, very limited precipitation but you can see the clouds after the morning fog tried to lift. couldn't find much sunshine. no question about that. temperature wise warming up a little bit. 74 in federalburg -- fredericksburg and cooler to the west. frederick, gaithersburg. 60s, mild and still humid. the chance for fog. we'll talk about that and your

warmest weather of the week is coming up. >> thanks a lot. >> we have a developing story out of wisconsin. the last three nights people have reported hearing booming noises from the ground. it started sunday night. more than 150 people woke up because of the noise and called 911. >> three booms and one long shake. >> all night long hearing the rumblings. >> experts were called in but they're stumped. they have ruled out standard earthquake activity or drilling. on a positive note, no injury or damage has been reported. many celebrity chefs make millions from their popular cook books but a recent article is questioning how involved some of them are, how some of the celebrities are being called out and how they're fighting back.

he's in the known for holding his tongue. this time he's using it to lash out at another person.

a driver filling up at a miami gas station headed into the pump. the driver was able to get out without being hurt. firefighters rushed to the station and were able it put the fire out quickly. a fire destroyed most of a marina causing more than $1.3 million in damage. nine boats caught fire, but no injuries were reported. the cause is still under investigation. and a massive boulder rolled down a hill and southerned in a--- into a home in southern ohio. it crushed two cars before hitting the house. the good news, there were people at home at the time but they were in different parts of the home. the good news is they were not hurt. they were very, very lucky. they are selling like hot

cakes but some customers say they also feel like them. what apple has to say about the complaints of the new ipad that's a little too odd to handle. remember that etch-a-sketch toy from childhood? why are they so hot on the campaign trail? two candidates have them in toe.

girl: i want to tell you about my friend. his name is ben. ben learned about a homeless boy who had an infected tooth, and the boy died. that made ben really sad. he wrote a law so every kid can see a dentist. we have special dental van that goes from school to school. he even helps make sure we learn how to brush our teeth. he's my friend, ben.

i hope he's your friend, too. i'm ben cardin, and i approved this message.

celebrities often use ghost writers, but some of the country's most famous chefs are using them too, even going so far as to say some of the chefs don't write their recipes. some of the chefs are writing back. paltrow reports loves the dining

section but this needs checking. i wrote every word for myself. rachael ray is said i also wreath my recipes -- write my recipes alone. >> it makes the consumer wonder, do i trust this person? on the other hand, it's like wait a second, this is eroding my authenticity, my brand. >> the new york times responded saying it does not believe the original article merits correction. another celebrity fight may be brewing between kiss' front man gene simmons and pop stary hannah. kiss along with the motley crue announced a tour. when people asked what to expect, he focused on what they who be doing. >> no karaoke allowed.

no fake. leave that to the ri anna, or anyone who ends with an a. >> ouch. rihanna has not responded. kiss and motley crue willing performing in july. not much out there but we did have a couple of thundershowers on the lower eastern shore earlier this afternoon diminishing. you could get a little rain as it moves over even dorchester county into southern caroline county. this is it in terms of rain. really, it's a messily cloudy day. you see a few rays of sunshine coming through the clouds here in baltimore, a few rays of hope. 68 right now. humidity is quite high as it has been for the last several days,

up around 70%. through the day in annapolis, you can see the clouds holding rather tough, tough to find any sunshine. at times you get a little bit late in the day with you it -- day, but it came in later. our shot from loch raven tech in towson showing no sunshine. boy, they have been socked in with the fog. you have the beaches for most of the last few days. a little bit of sun at times in ocean city. that was our view from plim plaza. most spots in the 70s in virginia. winds light from the east but really in the will lot happening weather wise. humidity remaining high. this sets the stage for, yes, more potential fog overnight. here we were go a similar scenario. the fog held throughout much of the mid-part of the morning and resulted in an overcast sky. so you see that pocket of commit account for highs compared to --

60s for highs compared to 80s in places. just couldn't get there with the abundant cloud cover. all eyes on this. this is producing flooding, but it a slow moving system. we still got a huge ridge of high pressure over the eastern u.s. some showers coming in with this setup but not the main weather maker. that will hold off until the second half of the weekend. warm air continuing to flow in but it does generate fog with the southeast fog bringing in the humidity, warm air in place. it's a recipe for fog. here's that slow moving system that eventually gets in here. i think probably saturday evening. you see friday evening this thing is west of west virginia, north carolina. eventually some rain for the second half of the weekend and cooler weather behind that s

overnight 57. we stay mostly cloudy. fog develops. 74 tomorrow, though some spots will have a tough time getting there depending on how well the clouds hold and then down to 55. here's your seven-day forecast. temperatures beginning to warm up. as we go into friday expecting things to warm up. the weekend, a bit of a cooloff. temperatures will fall. by sunday we think to 60 degrees. next week temperatures continue to trend in the 60s, so a little bit of a cooloff, kelly but we must remember mid-50s would be average right now, so the cooloffs into the 60s are still above average. >> no complaints. now to campaign 2012 news, mitt romney has a lead. is that causing anyone to back

down. the former governor just left the baltimore area talking about jobs, afghanistan. he's shifting his attention toward president obama. is this a turning point for romney? >> reporter: you know what, for mitt romney last night was a big one. he's really stack up those delegates. last night he had a 12% lead over rick santorum. on top of that win he gets a big endorsement from former florida governor jeb bush. >> so many great friends in this room and across illinois, what a night. thank you, illinois. what a night, wow! >> reporter: mitt romney picked up 41 delegates. santorum ended the night with 249, only adding 10 delegates, half of what he hoped to gain. delivering his message from pennsylvania, santorum made it clear he's not planning to drop

out. >> we wanted to come to pennsylvania to launch our campaign. we have five weeks to a big win. >> reporter: earlier today a romney adviser said if the other candidates were to drop out of the race, it would mean a shake-up in their campaign strategy, much like an etch-a-sketch. santorum using that etch-a-sketch against romney saying it's proof he will do anything to win. >> running as governor, not as a scek. >> reporter: newt gingrich also. >> you have to stand to something positive. let me borrow it. you have to stand for something that lasts longer than this. >> reporter: oh, by. now etch-a-sketches have entered the political con ver saimghts take a look. a staffer for santorum -- rick

santorum tweeted a picture. they have 46 delegates up for grabs. >> thanks for that live report. he decided not to run himself but jeb bush is still making waves in the race. bush said he's endorsing mitt romney saying it's time for republicans to unite behind mitt romney. he served as florida governor and is, of course, the brother of former president george w. bush. from a home in harford county, what's happening to the animals that were taken. why animal control officers visited the same house less than a year ago. there was a bit of march madness in parkville.

it had -- it showed us how to hit a basket. here's a preview of what's ahead on world news. >> we investigate who is really making the clothes you wear, brands from tommy hilfiger to the gap. we get action. see what happens tonight on world news.

turn left.

the passat is one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. not that we'd ever brag about it. turn right.

come on, nine. turn left. hit the brakes. huh? how'd that get there? [ male announcer ] we can't hide how proud we are to have nine 2012 iihs top safety picks. so we're celebrating with our "safety in numbers" event. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the 2012 passat for $219 a month. apple's ipad 3 flew off the shelves. they are noticing flaws. lots of people are running through their entire data flans a matter of hours, watching march madness and movies, using

that special 4g network. they're reporting the new ipads are getting hot, burning up to 116 degrees after holding it awhile, making it uncomfortable to hold. consumer reports said it's not enough to keep it from a positive review. >> it never becomes so hot that you can't hold the device or never so hot that the device seemed to suffer in any way. >> apple said it's not too concerned and that the tablet operates within the normal certification. 98 of the top 100 real estate markets, buying a home has become cheaper than renting. the problem is higher rental problems are making it more difficult for those hop want to buy a home to come up with enough money for a downpayment. the post most needs more

junk mail. with small businesses starting to spend less, the postal service is suffering. the agency has launched a campaign called every door direct mail to entice businesses to return to delivers ads to your door. harford county teachers will be getting what they have been waiting for, that long lay waited bonus. when they will start to see more than $1200 coming their way. that's on abc2 news at 6:00 with jamie costello which starts right now. what happened the night falkenhan died and it gives us the facts. mitt romney stomps for votes in arbutus. a developing story